2015 Goes Out with a … Whimper

Tags

Colombia, Estonia, Finland, Israel, Jordan, Lennon Wall, Mexico, Prague, Russia, travel sickness

The sun is going down on a great year of travel, but the latest trip – Colombia in this final week of the year – has ended with five sick people. Was it the eggs we ate yesterday morning? The ceviche the night before? A parasite in the tap water? No matter – we are all down for the count to various degrees, and my Colombia posts will have to wait for the New Year.

I managed to get my feet out the door to seven other countries this year, and ranged far and wide throughout the U.S. as well. I started off in the freezing cold with Russia, Estonia, and Finland in January, warmed up in Israel, Jordan, and Mexico during the summer, and finished 2015 broiling under the Colombian sun in high-altitude Bogotá and steamy Cartagena. It was a perfect mix of trips – some solo jaunts, various two-person combos, and a few family gatherings.

My final photo of the year shows a thrill I got this summer when son A and his friends gave a shout out to my blog on the Lennon Wall in Prague. I haven’t been able to find a way to use it, but I love the bright pink background and the five minutes of fame I got before someone no doubt painted over it.

Happy trails, voyages, or whatever you might wish for in 2016!

Wadi Rum is Not a Dessert

Tags

camels, Jordan, Lawrence of Arabia, Wadi Rum

But it was certainly a treat!

Wadi Rum is a desert (dry place, one s) in southern Jordan. The story behind that title is a silly one that is probably funny only to me and one other (very confused) person. In an email to family and friends during my recent Middle Eastern trip, I wrote about Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum, camel rides, and a host of other things I was seeing and doing. A few days later, a respondent who shall remain unnamed marveled at the itinerary, following up with a question: “Did you have the rum dessert on the camel ride or did I misread?” I am very easily amused.

Wadi (valley) Rum (high or elevated) is a protected area of open desert wilderness punctuated by mountains and canyons of reddish sandstone and granite. People have lived here for millennia; these inhabitants range from the famous Nabateans who founded nearby Petra and the nomadic Bedouins who remain in the region today. Wadi Rum was mentioned in Lawrence of Arabia’s writings about his role in the Arab Revolt of 1917-18, and the corresponding David Lean movie, “Lawrence of Arabia,” was filmed here. With its red-colored sand and rock, Wadi Rum has also stood in for Mars in many films over the years, including “Red Planet,” “The Last Days on Mars,” and Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” and the Palestinian “Arab Idol” which both just wrapped here in the last few months.

Nowadays, Wadi Rum is a venue for hiking, rock climbing, camping, 4×4 jaunts, and camel and horse safaris, all supported by the Bedouin-led eco-adventure tourism industry. We spent one day here, starting in a vehicle, stopping for a short rock climb to see some ancient inscriptions, and ending up on camels for a 40-minute ride led by a young boy with less-than-full control of his herd.

My camel awaits

Abandoned temporarily by the adult driver and guide we had hired, we put ourselves in the hands of Abdullah, an 8-year-old charmer who was kind to his beasts of burden (a prerequisite for me to do an animal ride) and the speaker of about three words in English. Sparing the rod, Abdullah had obviously spoiled his camels, for one young calf in our group had a mind of its own and seemed to prefer walking in circles to moving straight ahead. The resulting camel cluster led to some awkward jostling as well as the placement of stereotypically maloccluded camel teeth within spitting (and biting) distance of my ankles. I confess to a few moments of nervousness about being stranded in 110-degree heat with 12 ounces of water, 3 irritated camels, a husband with no husbandry skills, and an adorable child whose language I did not speak.

In time, Abdullah wrangled his recalcitrant young camel and our mounts, Godane and Al-Wafi, and we jounced through the desert to a Bedouin encampment for a cup of tea and a reunion with our driver. In the smoky tent, we happily bought headscarves after lackadaisically shopping for them throughout Aqaba and Petra and even Israel. We sailed back out of the wilderness in the truck, flying over the sand dunes and rosy gravel, sun on our faces, and the dry wind in our new Arabian headgear, making the desert a fitting end – a dessert after all – to our stay in Jordan.

Abdullah and his camels

Run Ragged in the Rose-Red City

Tags

Jordan, Nabateans, Petra, Rose-red city

A trip to Petra was without doubt the highlight of our recent stay in Jordan. I’d been gawking at photos of the Treasury peeking out of the canyon walls of the Siq (the narrow gorge entrance) leading into it for years. That moment was indeed a thrill; emerging from the shady, enclosed walk into the open area in front of the Treasury was everything I had anticipated, but Petra was far more expansive and impressive overall than I expected.

Deposited in that Treasury plaza of sorts, we found ourselves surrounded by visitors, camels, donkeys, and vendors. It felt like we’d practically had the Siq to ourselves, so even the minor crowd at the Treasury made it seem bustling. We soon left the small swarm behind, however, as we moved on quickly, figuring we would have this famous spot to ourselves later in the day after the I-came-to-Petra-just-for-a photo-of-the-Treasury cruisers went back to their ship.

We wandered the “outer Siq” with a guide, getting a brief history lesson and the lay of the land for our own exploration. For those who want a smattering of history, Petra dates back as far as the 5^th century BCE and was the capital city of the Nabatean kingdom for hundreds of years, as well as a caravan center for many trading routes between it and Arabia, China, India, Egypt and Syria. Set in rose-red sandstone, Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and contains tombs, temples, sacrificial high places, and a remarkable water system, all in an incongruous but stunning fusion of Hellenistic, Roman, and Nabatean architectural styles. A number of factors (a decline under Roman rule, an earthquake) left Petra in near ruin for centuries until it was rediscovered in the 1800s by a Swiss explorer.

We left our guide at a 500-year-old pistachio tree (I’m not sure why, but this was one of my favorite things at Petra!) and began what turned into a marathon of walking under the broiling desert sun.

I am a diehard walker, but my companion was the ultimate “Quién es más macho” type, so that meant we were going to cover everything here in one day, top to bottom, on foot, no resting allowed, so help us God.

We started with the 45-minute climb up some 800 stone steps to the Monastery. Like the Treasury, this edifice carved into the variegated white/pink/red stone bursts out of nowhere in the sandy, rocky landscape. The obligatory pictures were snapped, but Mr. Macho was rarin’ to continue on a path up to the (three) “Best Views!” at Petra, all mini-peaks overlooking the Arava desert on one side and the small rocky mountain we had just climbed up to the Monastery on the other. This lengthy diversion did reward us with spectacular views of the Monastery from above, a much better vantage point than head-on from a touristy snack stand.

Back down at the Monastery a dusty, sweaty hour later, we fortified ourselves with a shared Snickers bar and a minutes-long rest, then immediately descended the 800 steps and the rest of the path down to the main street. Here, Mr. M decided we needed to hike back up to another area – the Street of Facades – to get a better view of the houses, tombs, and carvings … exhaustion be damned! I note begrudgingly that it was worth the walk, and I was even able to buy the biggest, freshest, most appealing bottle of water I’d ever seen at the top of one of the myriad sets of stairs.

Back in the outer Siq, we made our way back to the Treasury (wonderfully quiet as the afternoon sun and crowds waned), back though the Siq and, almost at the collapsing point on my part, back up the long, hot, dry slope to the town and our hotel. We saw it all, we saw it on foot, and it was well worth the effort. I’ve seen a good number of the various Wonders of the World (natural, new, etc.) and Petra stacks right up there with the best of them. Roving through this immense, once-lost city in the middle of the desert on a hot day was a great way to get a feel for how impressive a construction job this was all those centuries ago.

And I thought my legs hurt after a day at Petra!

Jordan, Abbreviated

Tags

Aqaba, fasting, Jordan, Petra, Ramadan, Wadi Rum

We really didn’t mean to make Jordan an afterthought on our recent trip to the Middle East, but it got short shrift, I’m afraid, for a number of reasons. The primary impetus for our trip was a business meeting in Jerusalem, Israel, but I insisted that we add Jordan to the mix because it’s right there! and a relatively easy crossing from southern Israel.

Added to our limited number of days was, one, the unfortunate timing of our arrival in the country at the very beginning of Ramadan and, two, the current state of tourism in Jordan due to (largely unfounded) concerns about happenings in Syria and other neighboring countries. As a result, Jordan was not only eerily empty in places but lacking in services and certainly any air of festivity in the days we were there. I’m not Jordan-bashing; in fact, I left the country a fan of at least the places I saw, and I’d love to see more. In some ways, being there during the Muslim holiday added to the appeal, just as tramping though St. Petersburg in the dead of winter seemed to me to bring out the true soul of Russia.

Roadside flora and fauna on the road to Petra

Jordan is theoretically easy to visit on your own, especially using the Rabin/Wadi Arava crossing from southern Israel. In an effort to boost tourism, the Jordanian visa fee is waived at this crossing only, and going west to east into Jordan is fairly painless from an administrative standpoint. You can choose to make it harder physically, which of course we did. Instead of taking the bus to the central bus station in Eilat and catching a 5-minute, $8 cab to the border crossing, we got off at a lonely bus stop in the middle of the desert and walked to the border crossing based on some great money-saving advice I got online. I cursed this decision almost immediately, as we had to drag our bags about a mile down a baking asphalt road, rendering us overheated and short-tempered by the time we reached the Israeli exit window, where the computers were conveniently down for the next 40 minutes. After finally exiting Israel and making the 5-minute walk across no man’s land between countries, a series of bad signs and bad decisions led us to slog past a series of closed windows only to find we had not gathered the correct stamps and paperwork on the Jordanian side. Back we staggered, wilting with each passing minute, to complete the process before being loosed into a parking lot full of taxis waiting to gouge us for the ride into Aqaba.

Easy to find

Not so easy to find

On the Red Sea, Aqaba was a sleepy beach town, at least at the start of Ramadan. We had trouble finding lunch, the town center was shut down, and alcohol was a no-go almost everywhere, even at most eateries at our hotel. We lucked out at dinnertime, finding that a restaurant recommended by a Jordanian friend from home was not only open but serving beer. A postprandial stroll reinforced our luck in finding this great dinner spot as many places remained closed and the streets unnervingly vacant in a typically busy area, even after the sunset breaking-fast time was past.

On the plus side, chairs by the pool or the sea were widely available!

Ramadan and the drop in tourism continued to change our trip in ways both good and bad as we continued on to Petra (next post – more photos – stay tuned!) and Wadi Rum. At the height of Petra’s tourism crush, some 5000 people roamed the site each day; in the few days preceding our visit, we were told that total was down to about 70 on average. We did have a few more the day we visited, only because a cruise ship had dumped its passengers off for a day trip here, but the UNESCO World Heritage Site was surprisingly and marvelously uncrowded, especially as we roamed deeper and deeper into the ancient city. On the other hand, the pursuit of a drink (nearly impossible) and dinner (difficult before 9:30 pm) in Petra led us on a wild goose chase in town that evening, and all of the shops were closed.

Rooftop dinner in Petra – no need to worry about reservations

Driving from Petra to the Wadi Run protected desert area the next day, our driver told us how daily fasting causes accident levels to spike during the month of Ramadan. Shortly afterward, we saw a huge semi overturned on the side of the road, a sobering glimpse of a somewhat more serious ramification than my not getting a beer at the end of each day. Another crash appeared just a short time later, either as confirmation of his observation or just a wild coincidence.

Bedouin tent on the way to Petra

Our driver was purposely not fasting in order to stay alert in his job, but he advised us to be as thoughtful as possible when eating or drinking around the other guides, drivers, or camel herders. In the end, we refrained from eating at all with anyone fasting and tried to stay hydrated as inconspicuously as possible. While it did not rise to the level of a real challenge, the ability to get a beer or glass of wine was kind of a bummer at the end of our hot, dusty days in Jordan, and many eating establishments had special breakfast tents in the evenings instead of dinner to accommodate Muslim locals and travelers who were breaking their fasts at that hour.

Did Ramadan and some ghost-town-like inactivity impair our enjoyment of Jordan? Not at all. It was different – abbreviated in some ways – but it was a fascinating place to visit. Please watch for my next post(s) on Petra and Wadi Rum in the coming days to see the beauty of this peaceful land.